This invention relates to electrolysis and more particularly to the electrolysis of water for the generation of hydrogen and oxygen, the combination of which is commonly referred to as detonating gas.
Electrolysis is a process in which an electric current is passed through a liquid causing a chemical reaction to take place. If the liquid is water, electrolysis "breaks up" the water into two gases, namely hydrogen and oxygen. In the electrolysis of water, the hydrogen gas collects at the cathode electrode and the oxygen gas collects at the anode electrode of the gas generator. Because pure water is not a suitable conductor of electricity, a salt such as potassium hydroxide is added to the water to form an electrically conductive solution. Such a solution is known as an electrolyte. This process generates gas as a function of the surface area of the anode and cathode electrodes in contact with the electrolyte and directly proportional to the amount of current flowing through the gas generator.
One important practical use of the detonating gas produced by this means is as a fuel for welding equipment. In this type of application, the proportions of oxygen and hydrogen produced by electrolysis (one part oxygen is two parts hydrogen) exactly matches the proportions needed for recombination (combustion) in the flame of an associated welding torch.